John Brown Speaks in Concord
On this day in 1857, John Brown addressed a crowd in Concord Town Hall. He spoke about the situation in Kansas, where a bitter struggle was underway between pro- and anti-slavery settlers. In a matter-of-fact manner, he described in graphic detail the "terrible hardships, exposures, privations & cruelties" Free State families were suffering to keep slavery out of Kansas. A native New Englander, he hoped his speaking tour of the region would raise $25,000 to allow him to continue fighting "in the cause of Freedom." While John Brown had many admirers in Concord and elsewhere in New England, few of them shared his passionate commitment to a Holy War against slavery, and fewer still came to his aid.
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